Obesity, type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders present a major and growing global public health challenge. These disorders result from a complex interplay between genetic, developmental and environmental factors that operate throughout life.

The goal of the MRC Epidemiology Unit is to investigate the interplay between these factors and to use that evidence to develop and evaluate strategies for the prevention of these diseases.

Unit setting

The Unit is affiliated with two research Institutes, reflecting our connections with basic science, clinical medicine and public health.

The Unit is part of the Wellcome Trust – MRC Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS)on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where the principal offices and laboratories of the Unit are physically located. Unit Director Professor Nick Wareham is Co-Director of the IMS with Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly. Being embedded in the IMS is critical to our aspiration to examine associations between potential exposures and metabolic disease outcome, and to follow up these observations to determine possible causality and mechanisms.

The Unit is also a part of the Cambridge Institute of Public Health (CIPH). We closely collaborate with a number of departments within the CIPH, and many of our studies are run jointly with Institute colleagues. The CIPH acts as a route to a wide range of other multidisciplinary collaborations that aid the translation of epidemiological observations into public health action. The Institute also plays an important role in our teaching and training programme: our students usually undertake the Masters in Epidemiology or that in Public Health run by the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, to which our staff contribute as supervisors and lecturers.

Unit Organisation

Our research uses shared resources within the MRC Epidemiology Unit to investigate the causes of obesity and diabetes and to translate these findings into preventive action. The key goal for our research is to try to “follow through” and not simply make observations and leave it to others to translate our findings into action.

The Unit is structured and functions in a novel way to achieve our goals. Unlike traditional scientific units, we have a series of studies that contribute to each of the different research programmes.

This way, results from one study can be analysed by many programmes to identify trends and links in different areas of interest. As a consequence our science is defined in terms of the research programmes on which it is built, rather than the studies.

To generate the large volumes of data that are required to look at population trends an extensive team of people within the Unit is required. This team, which includes the Scientific Specialists and the Functional Group, undertakes the key functions required to run these studies and analyse the data generated from them. All of these people work to deliver data to the research scientists for analysis, comparison and interpretation. Together this enables us to improve our understanding of the causes and prevention of diabetes and obesity to improve the health of the public.